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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27484114">tearing down the walls, painting over scars and bruises; now this is home (fill it up with love, and make the best of something new)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/What_Is_A_Mild_Opinion/pseuds/What_Is_A_Mild_Opinion'>What_Is_A_Mild_Opinion</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Golden Cracks and Miracles (This Bittersweet Being is Enough, With You) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Chaotic Family Dynamic, Gaang (Avatar) as Family, I'm a sucker for linguistic worldbuilding, Just Disasters, Katara and Zuko (Avatar) are Parents, Meetings Suck, No beta we die like Sleep-Deprived College Kids, Prank War!!!, Sokka and Katara are Disaster Siblings, Sokka is good at logic and bad at pranks, The Gaang is a Hot Mess, The Gaang is amazing, The Gaang is just dysfunctional teenagers?? who let them run the world?, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Toph and Sokka are still two-year-olds, War sucks, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko's perspective, but they suck less when you and your friends are pranking each other, cuz apparently I can't help myself, do you all read all these tags?, until they're not, with just a little angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:35:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,074</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27484114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/What_Is_A_Mild_Opinion/pseuds/What_Is_A_Mild_Opinion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Toph started cackling. Aang had to turn away to try and regain control of his breathing. Sokka bit his lip to stifle his laughter. From across the room, Zuko could see Suki desperately trying not to break down.</p>
<p>Slowly, slowly, Hakoda’s eyes turned to Zuko. He looked the Fire Lord up and down, taking in Katara’s dress. He looked from Zuko, to Katara, to Sokka and Toph, and then up at the ceiling. </p>
<p>“My children are chaos gremlins,” he said despairingly.</p>
<p>At this, everyone close enough to hear him broke down in laughter.<br/>Zuko internally ran through his whole repertoire of curse words.</p>
<p>This was all Sokka and Toph’s fault.<br/>----<br/>The Gaang live, and love, and learn how to be chaos gremlins while also putting a world back together. Or, The Gaang is chaotic neutral, and have a prank war.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Toph Beifong &amp; Katara &amp; Sokka &amp; Suki &amp; Zuko, Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; each other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Golden Cracks and Miracles (This Bittersweet Being is Enough, With You) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944868</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. They Say Home Is Where The Heart Is, And Now I Think It Must Be True (So, Please, Keep My Heart Safe Where It's Buried In All Of You)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heys guys! How ya doin'? As an American, right now I am very stressed. Election week is stressful, even whan you aren't voting. (Does it get less stressful when you can vote? Or more?)</p>
<p>So I decided that the last thing anyone needs right now is more angst. Since the next two scheduled fics in this series (Sokka's and Suki's) will be in keeping with the other fics, with more difficult discussions and copious amounts of 'oh god why', I am putting them on pause for a second to deliver you this! 47 Google Docs pages of just our favorite disaster children being a chaotic family that really does love each other under all the sass. This is mostly just the kind of fluff that I search for when life is too depressing, and I figured that felt about right for right now. While I was writing this I had the huge crinkly grin of tooth-rotting fluff on my face. </p>
<p>However, there will be brief mentions/discussions of grief, genocide, the consequences and resulting fallout of war, abandonment, bad parenting (cough cough, Ozai, cough cough), and just PTSD among minors in general. The Gaang has some less than great coping mechanisms in this. (I do not support underage drinking in any way, shape or form; brains are delicate and do not stop maturing until 21-25 years of age. Don't do it. However, if this were set in some European countries, a few of them would be of legal drinking age, and I feel like the rest of them just wouldn't care since Katara's there to act as healer. So, bring on the alcohol. Again, DO NOT UNDERAGE DRINK. IT'S VERY BAD FOR YOU.) Mostly though, this is just pure unadulterated fluff, and the Gaang being disasters.</p>
<p>I'm gonna post this and then realize like five days from now what I meant to put in here that has me squinting in irritation at the notes box on my screen with a vague feeling of 'you've forgotten something'. It happens every time. Every. Single. Time. But anyway.</p>
<p>As always, when it comes to words that look like incomprehensible jibberish, reference the Language Key. </p>
<p>I loved writing this, and I hope you love reading it! Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Zuko stood in front of his main council with his chin held high. He very pointedly didn’t look down at the blue Water Tribe dress he was wearing, that was just a few inches too short.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most of his council looked either constipated, confused, amused, or as if they were desperately trying to hold in their raucous cackles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To Zuko’s left, Sokka was somehow managing to look elegant in his full Kyoshi warrior dress. He was even wearing the makeup. How was he so good at makeup? He had even added extra coils and tiny ice lilies in the black paint, sprawling out through the white.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To Zuko’s right, Toph was sprawled out in her usual fashion, her feet up in the other chair, leaning against the back of her seat and smugly staring out over the others of the council, because even if she couldn’t technically see them this way, the scrutiny made them uncomfortable. Unlike usual, however, Aang’s staff rested in the crook of her arm, and she was sprawled out in Air Nation yellow and orange.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the edge of the room, Suki was resplendent in Water Tribe blues just like Zuko. Sokka’s clothes fit her remarkably well, and she and Sokka had apparently traded weapons for the day. Sokka’s boomerang hung around her shoulders, and his space sword was strapped to her waist. She had even put on a full face of Southern Water Tribe war paint. The grays and blacks and whites made her look just as intimidating as her Kyoshi colors of white and red did. Of all Zuko’s friends, he thought Suki was the one least likely to receive any laughter today from anyone who wasn’t in her guard.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s spine was stiff as he waited for the other council members who had not yet arrived. And, more importantly, Aang and Katara.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two of them in particular would be vital in this meeting, because apparently they were the only two people in the world who could keep a room full of diplomats from all nations even a little civil. But he wasn’t looking forward to seeing their clothing. He had narrowed it down, and there were really only two people’s clothing they could be wearing. He didn’t really know what he wanted each of them to walk through the door in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The newly appointed head of the International Affairs department walked through the door and did a double-take when she saw him. Her eyes widened, and she glanced at Suki, Sokka, and Toph in quick succession. The confusion dropped from her face, and she bit her lip as if stifling a grin. But other than that she had no reaction to their sudden change of stylistic choice. She looked back at Zuko, nodded respectfully, and slid her things into her place at the table before walking over to speak with a few of the Earth Kingdom delegates Zuko knew she had been trying to get closer with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka looked over at Zuko and grinned. Despite himself, Zuko still shot a tiny grin back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko had asked his friends for input when choosing the International Affairs head, and Paonie had been Sokka’s choice. She was quickly proving to be one of the best employees Zuko had hired; between her terrifying intellect, strange aptitude for compromise and collaboration, unwavering sense of justice, and freakish ability to just roll with the punches, she was probably one of the top-ten reasons the negotiations hadn’t started another war yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the next ten minutes, diplomats and delegates and representatives from all corners of the world flooded into the ballroom-turned-meeting-room, and came up to greet him. All of them reacted with shock and confusion ranging from mild to severe when they saw Representative Sokka of the Water Tribe in Earth Kingdom colors, Lady Toph Beifong of the Fire Nation royal cabinet in Air Nation colors,  and Esteemed Head of the Royal Guard Kyoshi warrior Suki along with Fire Lord Zuko in Water Tribe blues.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the most part, they just stuttered and stumbled through their introductions and interactions with the four of them with considerable confusion, trying and failing not to sneak glances at their clothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some of the kinder members of his cabinet pulled some of them aside and explained, in hushed voices, what had been going on for the past week and a half in the Fire Nation Palace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mostly everyone was in the room when silence fell around the doors. Zuko looked up at the sudden hush, and fixed his eyes on the two people walking through the door hand in hand. As he recognized what they were wearing, he realized he wouldn’t have liked this either way. It was official. He was going to kill them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Avatar Aang, the Great Bridge between the two worlds, Restorer of Balance, and Harbinger of Freedom, walked in with his head held high, wearing one of Toph’s formal dresses. And Representative Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, newly recognized </span>
  <em>
    <span>Waivema Quinave, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Greatest Waterbender in the world, waltzed into the ballroom clutching Aang’s hand, in full Fire Lord regalia. She had even stolen his crown.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara met his eyes, and gave him a shit-eating grin. Aang fell into his girlfriend’s side, burying his head in her shoulder in a poor attempt to conceal his furious giggles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara swept up to him, and, Great Spirits, she even had her hair pulled up in a topknot. It was a rather impressive feat for how much hair she had. She gave Zuko a grin and said, “Well, good morning!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you ‘well, good morning’ me,” he hissed back at her. “Whose idea was this? How did you pull it off? What were you all thinking, doing this today?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara shrugged, and the cape attached to the piece that settled on her shoulders followed her movement.  “Well, number one,” she said, “we are still at war, and I refuse to lose to you. And number two,” she said, giving him an evil grin, “It’s completely hilarious.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko glanced over at Paonie, who met his eyes and grinned, giving him a thumbs up with a pointed look at Katara’s dress. Paonie was probably one of his only advisors that felt comfortable joking with him yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was so going to tease him about this later.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko groaned and just barely managed to restrain himself from dropping his head onto Katara’s shoulder with sheer despair. “This is going to be a disaster.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang started laughing so hard he had to lean into Katara to stop himself from falling over. “Oh, come on, Zuko,” he wheezed. “It won’t be that bad.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked at him, completely deadpan. “Are you serious?” He looked around, gesturing widely at the ballroom full of people. “This is maybe the most important meeting of the past three months, and you all pulled this crap.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara grinned at him. “Yup!” she said, far too cheerfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked over to see the ambassador of the various outer cities of the Northern Water Tribe walk into the room. He looked up from the papers he was flipping through, scanning the room. His eyes landed first on Toph, and then Sokka. He glanced over at Suki, who looked as if she had noticed his gaze and was trying very hard not to laugh. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now looking completely startled and lost, his eyes landed on their little group standing at the front of the room. He was sure they made quite a sight, between Aang still leaning against Katara and laughing so hard he was breathless, Katara still grinning evilly at Zuko, and Zuko himself probably looking like he had completely given up on life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara followed Zuko’s line of sight, and met Ambassador Liponj’s eyes. She raised her hand, giving him a wide smile, and bowing just a little bit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ambassador Liponj hastily shoved all his papers into one arm and waved back at her, bowing at an incline lower than Katara had for him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If Zuko was being honest, he still wasn’t totally sure exactly where the title of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Waivema Quinave</span>
  </em>
  <span> placed Katara in the social hierarchy of the Water Tribes, and Katara didn’t seem to really understand yet either. But it seemed to place her fairly high on the social ladder, as all the Water Tribe visitors made a point of treating her with more respect in their formal greetings than she did them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko was pretty sure it bothered her a little bit, or maybe more than a little bit. They were still in the early stages of Plan Make Katara Believe She’s a Hero. It wasn’t going well. She still clearly didn’t think she was as great as she was, much to their group’s frustration. Normally, a greeting like what Liponj had just given her would make her withdraw, and start hovering more towards the background. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But apparently she was still sufficiently on a high from having pulled off this whole new level of humiliation for Zuko that it didn’t bother her as much, so Katara just turned back to Zuko, a smile still set on her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” she said highly, “We’ve been working nonstop for almost four months to get to this meeting, and if they can’t treat it as though it is as important as it is because we’ve swapped clothes, then maybe they don’t want the negotiations to finalize at all.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara’s voice had been just quiet enough to fool anyone listening into thinking she didn’t want to be overheard, but had also gotten just loud enough during this declaration for some of the closest diplomats’ eyes to widen as they realized the implications of what they had overheard. The diplomats scurried away into the crowd, whispering to each other, presumably spreading the word that this meeting was to be treated very seriously, or else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked at Katara in wonder, awed by her subtle manipulation of the room. Sometimes, Zuko was very, very glad he and Katara were friends. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang seemed to realize what Katara had done as well, and he finally pulled himself from her side so he could look at her face. Both Aang and Zuko looked at each other, and then back at Katara, their faces both a mirror of admiration. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gave them a tiny close-lipped smile, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction. She winked at Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko was aware he was probably looking at her like she had turned into an all-powerful spirit, but he didn’t care. She had just made things so much easier. “You are amazing,” he breathed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara smirked at him. “I know,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, with the affirmation that Katara’s words meant they probably wouldn’t get any crap about their unscheduled clothes-swapping, Zuko took a deep breath and let himself relax a little.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang turned to look at him, his gray eyes wide with enthusiasm. “Don’t worry, Zuko,” he said. “Everything will go fine. Your council is smart, and even if we start to slip a little, I don’t think Paonie or Shao-Xi will let anything go terribly wrong on the Fire Nation’s end. Katara, Sokka and Hakoda have the Water Tribes’ ears and their hearts. Arnook and the other diplomats will listen to them. Toph is serving as one of your council, but the Earth Kingdom delegates will listen to her and Suki if it comes down to it. And if all else fails, Kuei is our friend. He’ll want to listen to us.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang’s face split in a smile, and he said,  “Besides, we’re all here for the same reason. We want the war to be over, and we want the world to be able to move on and start rebuilding. Everyone that is here today is here because they want to help make things better. To try to derail this meeting over something as silly as us switching clothes seems below them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t. Zuko knew it wasn’t. But Aang’s enthusiasm, as usual, was starting to bleed into him. He looked over and Katara was smiling at him with all the quiet confidence, and silent strength she had always had, and Aang was still dripping warmth like one of the campfires they had spent so many nights around, and when he looked over Suki was laughing silently as Sokka and Toph got into a heated poke fight. He took a deep breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They could do this. If their little group from all nations could play tag and have multicultural potlucks after everything, after everything all of them had lost at the hands of a war they didn’t ask for; if they could casually swap clothes and tease each other with no heat, when by all accounts they should have hated each other, they could do this. They could make it through this meeting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko felt his shoulders unconsciously relax. Katara and Aang smiled at him, and warmth flooded his chest. “You’re right,” he said. “It will be fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Besides,” a dry voice said behind him, “I have knives if things get out of hand.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko turned around, grinning at Mai. “We would expect nothing less from you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mai let out a tiny smile, and leaned in for a kiss. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko happily obliged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Mai pulled away, she sighed. “Alright,” she said. “I have to go find my seat. It looks like we’re about to start. Let’s hope this is slightly less monumentally trying than usual.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara snorted. “That feels like a stretch, but here’s hoping.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mai snorted in agreement and walked past, brushing Katara’s hand on the way to her seat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko and Aang looked at each other, sharing the look of mild fear they had been wearing all too often lately. Mai and Katara, when they were no longer enemies on opposite sides of a war, had become friends at a terrifying speed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once, Zuko and Aang had walked in on the two of them swapping embarrassing moments of their boyfriends. Mai had looked up at him with an evil grin and said, “Zuko, you never told me Katara had such </span>
  <em>
    <span>wonderful </span>
  </em>
  <span>stories about you.” Zuko had looked at Katara with what he could only describe as terrified betrayal, and she had laughed at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mai and Katara had quickly become the kind of friends that terrified others with their combined badassery and startling intellect. It wasn’t uncommon for men who had been making lewd comments about Mai to find themselves frozen in various convoluted positions in secluded parts of the castle. Once a nobleman had made the mistake of calling Katara several slurs behind her back. The next day, Zuko saw several staff members attempting to pull him down from a fifty foot flagpole he was pinned to by several knives. When asked about those incidents, both Mai and Katara feigned innocence. They weren’t fooling anyone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And now, Zuko and Aang lived in constant fear of the combined terror machines that were their girlfriends.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang sighed and said, “This is going to take all day, isn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nodded, trying not to sigh too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang looked at him with a kind of despairing hope. “Will there be a lunch break?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shook his head, fondness blooming in his stomach. “Of course that’s what you’re worried about.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang’s eyes widened. “I’m not worried for me! Fasting is something I do all the time. I was just thinking…” He glanced around nervously and leaned in towards Zuko, whispering, “Do you remember the last time a meeting happened with no lunch break? Sokka almost beheaded that Earth Kingdom town delegate who kept asking for so much money. I can’t speak for you all, but I do </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> want a repeat of that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the mention of the ten hour meeting where Sokka had whipped out his space sword, all three of them shuddered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All right,” Katara said. “You’ve got a point there.”</span>
</p>
<p><span>Zuko looked over at the door to see Chief Hakoda walk in. Zuko wasn’t sure what to make of the tentative truce between Hakoda and his children. He knew what it was like to feel abandoned, and he didn’t begrudge Sokka and Katara their resentment. But he also thought the steps they were taking to rebuild their relationship were important. </span><span><br/></span> <span>And that meant Hakoda had to come to terms with the ridiculousness of things they sometimes did. Case in point, their clothing swap.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Hakoda began walking over to where he knew his children would be. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko could pinpoint the exact moment Hakoda saw what Sokka was wearing, because he stopped so abruptly in the middle of the walkway that one of the younger Earth Kingdom delegates accidentally slammed into his back. The delegate slipped past him, apologizing profusely. Hakoda gave her no reaction. He was too busy staring at his son, his mouth slightly agape.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He started walking again after a few seconds of open gawking, quickly approaching his son.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looked up, and saw who Zuko was watching. Her eyes did the strange flashing they always did when they saw him. Katara always looked so delicate around him. It was an unusual look on her, and Zuko kind of hated it. As soon as the flashing appeared, it was gone again. Katara looked back at Zuko and Aang, grinning, and said, “Bet you one bad dinner he barely holds together his disappointment in both of us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko snorted. “You’re on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was how they did betting. Since most of their group was either broke, or very rich, money kind of meant nothing to any of them, so they bet with something else. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Running a country and trying to put the world back together was really stressful, it turned out, and even more so when everyone knew you. So sometimes, they put on disguises, and went out to be stupid kids in the capital city. ‘Bad dinners’ as they called them, where when all of them went out, and one of them got to pick a sketchy restaurant, and all of them had to eat there. Each of them had three picks per two months, and they used picks to bet with each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Should they be spending their limited free time to go out and deliberately eat at restaurants that could almost certainly get them sick? Probably not. Did they do it anyway because they were stupid kids that had the security of a waterbending healer when they inevitably got food poisoning? Duh.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hakoda appeared in front of Sokka, looking very uncomfortable and almost as constipated as Zuko had been after their last bad dinner.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shifted from foot to foot, and then said, “Sokka,” his eyebrows furrowing. “Are you wearing a dress?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka gasped so hard he nearly fell over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Next to Aang, Katara let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now he’s done it,” Zuko muttered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka shot to his feet so fast Hakoda jumped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not just a dress!” Sokka shrieked, his gray-blue eyes as wide as they could go. He puffed out his chest and proudly flicked out Suki’s fans. “It’s a warrior’s outfit!” Sokka all but yelled. “The warpaint and official war dress are modeled after Avatar Kyoshi, a fearsome warrior and brilliant woman! The Kyoshi warriors are some of the most talented fighters I have ever met, and to wear their official war outfit is an honor granted to few! It is a dress, and it’s way more than that, too!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko wasn’t sure at this point if Hakoda could get any more stunned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There are flowers on your face,” Hakoda said numbly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this, Sokka inflated even more, a huge smile spreading over his face. “Why thank you for noticing!” he said proudly. “The flowers in black are ice lilies like in the South Pole, and the flowers in white relief are Morning Tears, like the ones that grow on Kyoshi island. I put them both in so I can wear both cultures at once. Makeup is super fun, you should try it some time!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked over at Suki. He was a little surprised Sokka hadn’t melted into the floor yet under the weight of Suki’s heart eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hakoda just stared at his son for a few seconds, and then opened his mouth to speak. But before he could, Sokka offhandedly said, “But if you don’t like me wearing </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span>, I would advise just not even looking at Katara all day.” He clapped his father’s shoulder, and then sat down cross-legged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hakoda’s head snapped around so fast Zuko’s neck panged with sympathy at the whiplash he surely had. His eyes fell on Katara, resplendent in Zuko’s full Fire Lord outfit, cape, crown and all. His jaw dropped so far it almost scraped the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara grinned, and said cheerfully, “Well, hello, Father Dearest. How are you this morning?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph started cackling. Aang had to turn away to try and regain control of his breathing. Sokka bit his lip to stifle his laughter. From across the room, Zuko could see Suki desperately trying not to break down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly, slowly, Hakoda’s eyes turned to Zuko. He looked the Fire Lord up and down, taking in Katara’s dress. He looked from Zuko, to Katara, to Sokka and Toph, and then up at the ceiling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My children are chaos gremlins,” he said despairingly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this, everyone close enough to hear him broke down in laughter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko internally ran through his whole repertoire of curse words.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was all Sokka and Toph’s fault.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>A week and a half earlier…</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko didn’t know how Toph could find so much alcohol. He had lived in the palace his whole life, and if you gave him a month, he wouldn’t be able to find as much alcohol as Toph could in a day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The earthbender in question was currently pulling alcohol from every place on her person it could fit, and several where it logically should not.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As Toph pulled up her skirt, pulling four tiny bottles of alcohol from the shorts she wore above her underwear, Katara eyed the growing pile of spirits with something like amused concern. “Toph,” she said. “Should I be concerned about the fact that you somehow know how to find and conceal what has to be at least two gallons of alcohol on you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope!” Toph said cheerfully. “I’ve got it all under control, Sugar Queen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This still isn’t legal, is it?” Aang asked Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Zuko said. “But just like the last few times we’ve done this, I don’t think it’s going to stop any of us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ve all done way worse things than getting a little buzzed,” Suki said dismissively, reaching over to snatch a bottle from Toph’s still-growing pile. “If this is the worst thing we do from now on, getting a little tipsy every once in a while? Glory freakin’ Hallelujah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka, who had just taken a drink from his own bottle, snorted and sucked liquor up the wrong pipe. He burst into a fit of heavy coughing, and just as Zuko was starting to get seriously concerned for his lack of oxygen, Aang leaned forward, and flicked his hand in Sokka’s direction. With a whoosh, air shot up into Sokka’s open mouth and nose. Sokka lurched forward making a noise like a gagging cat, his eyes widening to the size of saucers. He broke into a fit of much clearer coughing, and then shot Aang a halfhearted glare.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A little warning next time?” he complained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang had the decency to look sheepish.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph, who Zuko was fairly sure was already a little tipsy, did not. She started roaring with laughter at Sokka’s expense.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara leaned forward and snagged a bottle from the pile, spinning it in her hands to look at the label. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Jino Afuar’” </span>
  </em>
  <span>she read in a lofty voice. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>‘The finest aged rum in the East Islands, aged for years four-and-thirty in a smoked ash barrel. A smooth taste of the elegant dragonpeach.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara swung her shoulders towards Sokka and leaned in, her voice getting deeper.</span>
  <em>
    <span> “The strong rhinoberry.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She spun her legs out from under her and dropped them in Zuko’s lap with an exaggerated thump.</span>
  <em>
    <span> “And the versatile guavas of Lemuu island,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” she continued, making dramatic eye contact with all of them.</span>
  <em>
    <span> “With just a hint of cinnamon.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this point, all of them were laughing. She kept going.</span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Let the rich taste carry you away to tropical islands. Rest your feet in the warm sand and-’</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara squinted at the label. “Tui and La,” she laughed. “Are they trying to sound like high-and-mighty snobs? Because it’s working. This goes on for a whole page.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No way!” Suki said. “A whole page? Let me see that!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lunged over to try and wrestle the bottle from Katara’s grip, but Katara let out an indignant yelp, and smacked Suki on the back of the head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki pulled away whining.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By this point, the rest of their group was practically howling with laughter, both from Katara’s dramatic reenactment of the label, and Suki failing to get the bottle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara dropped her head and shoulders into Aang’s lap, still examining the label. Aang immediately scooped up the end of her braid, and began to undo it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was just a thing they did, whenever Katara’s head ended up in Aang’s lap. Aang unwound whatever hairstyle she had up, and then either redid it in the same style, or put it up in an entirely different one. Zuko didn’t know where Aang had learned to do such delicate, intricate hairstyles when he lived in a temple full of monks without hair, but Zuko had never seen one of Aang’s doing that wasn’t gorgeous. Katara would probably walk out of Suki’s room with a beautifully done updo that would put most of the noblewomen to shame.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko didn’t like to dwell on why he had never seen these hairstyles before Aang did them for the girls, and Sokka on the rare occasion he would sit still long enough. He didn’t like to think about the fact that Aang had to learn this from </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone</span>
  </em>
  <span>, that it didn’t come out of thin air, but it might as well have, for all the rest of the world remembered it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko reached for Toph’s pile, grabbing the first bottle his hand brushed and taking a huge swig without checking what it even was. Vodka, his tongue answered him. A very fruity vodka. It burned on the way down, stinging and scraping all the inside of his throat. It felt about right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked over at Aang, still untangling Katara’s braid. He watched the blue of his tattoos flicker in the torchlight, the gray of his eyes flashing and catching in the light. Temples, abandoned (desecrated, he would not say, even though it was true), flashed behind his eyes. He took another swig, and it burned. About right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko,” Katara said, yanking him away from the stinging in his throat and the pounding in his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The veil shattered like a stained glass window in a burning church. Zuko could almost imagine the smoke rolling past the fractured pieces of glass still clinging to the frame.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shook his head as if to clear the smoke away, and said, “Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara squinted at the label, lifting the glass and tilting it so the torchlight fell on it. “I know this sounds all pompous, but is it any good?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko frowned. “What did you say it was called again?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looked over at him, her frown shifting into a teasing smile. “You can’t remember?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko flushed. He wasn’t sure how much of it was the vodka. “I got distracted,” he said defensively. “You were making fun of it so hard.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara let out a laugh. “It’s called </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jino Afuar</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Yea, nay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko frowned. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Jino Afuar</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he murmured to himself. “I know I’ve heard that before. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jino Afuar</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Piece by piece, the memories came back. Cherries, and incense, and dusk light pouring in through arched windows. And, through it all, a rippling laugh, the last of a man he once knew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Jino Afuar</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he murmured. “Lu Ten loved that stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looked over at him, her eyes flashing in the moonlight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had read a scroll once, old and cracking and yellowed with age, that looking back could only have been from before Sozin’s reign. It had spoken of the four nations with reverence, and when discussing the Water Tribes, it had described them in reference to the ocean. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The sea is as deep as it is endless, </span>
  </em>
  <span>the scroll had said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>And restless as the currents run, so too do it’s people. The peoples of the Water Tribes run as deep as the oceans from which they hail, and just as powerful. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It had seemed like elegant lies to Zuko at the time. But that was before he met Sokka and Katara. Zuko didn’t think he would ever find the bottom of their depths. And for as young as they were, sometimes they seemed as ancient as the ocean itself, and twice as knowing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara’s blue eyes flashed in the flickering light as she gazed at him. Zuko didn’t look over at Sokka, but he could feel the other boy’s gaze on him just like his sister’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” Katara said softly. “I better try it then, huh? Seems like a shame to waste it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This group, so full of knowing gazes and soft touches and sightless wounds and fearless love, made Zuko feel transparent. Like his skin was as clear as glass and twice as fragile. It wasn’t a feeling he tolerated often. But he let himself feel fragile with these children, these children that were just as breakable as him. They would always be there to put him back together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara uncorked the bottle and gave it a tentative sniff before taking a very small sip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stared at nothing, and then glanced back down at the bottle in her hands, her face morphing into something like disgust. “Oh spirits,” she groaned. “For real? They just had to be pompous enough to seem like snobs, and then make a freaking awesome drink. Naturally. Just my luck.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang reached over and took the bottle from her hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki’s face contorted with mock offense. “Oh, sure,” she drawled. “I get smacked when I go for the bottle, but he just gets to take it. I see how it is.” She crossed her arms over her chest and turned dramatically to Sokka. “Your sister is playing favorites,” she told Sokka dramatically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka laughed, and pulled Suki in for a kiss. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara bumped Suki’s knee and grinned up at the older girl mischievously. “Aang gets boyfriend privileges.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang grinned at Suki. Suki stuck her tongue back out at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara pulled her head up towards Aang, and he leaned down to give her a tiny kiss.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“OOGIES,” Sokka wailed, diving into his girlfriend’s lap, burying his face in her shoulder. “Too many oogies!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara picked up a teensy bottle from the top of Toph’s pile and threw it at Sokka’s head. Suki snatched it out of the air before it could conk Sokka on the back of the head, and handed it to him. She patted his shoulder. “There, there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Really, Zuko thought Katara took entirely too much pleasure in throwing various objects at her brother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Once, Sokka had made a particularly lewd joke. He seemed to regret it as soon as it came out. But by the time he opened his mouth to apologize, Katara had risen to her feet, and in a startling display of strength, seized the edge of the tabletop and flipped the entire ten foot long table at him. Sokka had escaped major harm, but he didn’t have time to change before the next meeting, so he just had to go covered in the soup from the pot that had landed on his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On a completely unrelated note, Toph spent most of that meeting laughing hysterically in Sokka’s general direction.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Great Spirits, Toph,” Katara said, staring incredulously at the earthbender girl. “How much alcohol did you steal?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph pulled one last long skinny bottle from her boot, and a tiny vial that couldn’t have more than an ounce of liquid in it from her hair, dropped them on the pile that now stood over a foot tall, and dropped down with a thump on the floor. Her skirts puffed up with the influx of air. With an irritated huff, she smacked them down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko owns this whole palace,” Toph said dismissively. “And everything in it. It’s not stealing.” She paused, and then shot Katara a sugary smile. “And even if it were,” she said cheerfully, “I wouldn’t care.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang snorted into the bottle he and Katara were passing back and forth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara sighed. “I should’ve seen that coming.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Zuko agreed. “You should have.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko personally hadn’t been there for Toph’s brief, but apparently very extensive, stint in scamming. But he had heard enough amused retellings from Sokka and exasperated retellings from Katara to have a pretty clear picture of the situation. Basically, Toph was really good at scamming people. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko wouldn’t have been surprised if Toph came out and said her pile of liquor was slowly accumulated from the personal stores of the nobleman she hated the most. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Zuko would secretly be very supportive of this. They had tried their best to root out the worst of the Ozai supporters, but all the lie detection in the world couldn’t root out the snobs, and spirits knew some of them deserved to be taken down a few pegs.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph punched Suki’s shoulder and gestured at her pile. “Pick me a good one,” she demanded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki, ever the good sport, rolled her eyes and ruffled Toph’s hair, scooping up two of the bottles on the top to squint at the labels.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka finished the tiny bottle Suki had stopped from smacking him in the head, and reached over to take one of the bottles from Suki’s hands. He looked down at it. “Hey, Zuko,” he said curiously. “Rum from an island called Ponivar.” He looked over at the firebender, raising an eyebrow. “Any good?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko hummed, curling his fingers around the bottle of vodka between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ponivar,” he said, reciting from old memories drilled into his head, “is an island in the eastern portion of the Fire Nation. The island itself is almost twice as large as Caldera City, but only one-eighth of it has homes. The rest is covered in deciduous forests, and huge sugarcane fields. The main exports of the island are raw sugar, molasses, oak wood, and rum. Over fifty percent of their income comes from the rum trade, and before the war rum from Ponivar was traded and sold worldwide.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gave Sokka a crooked smile. “So yes, it should be good.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the group just stared at him for a second before Toph groaned loudly. “Here I was, having a good time,” she all but yelled, “and you had to go and give us a </span>
  <em>
    <span>history</span>
  </em>
  <span> lesson.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her tone made it abundantly clear that she would rather lick the soles of Sokka’s shoes than attend a history lesson.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looked at Zuko and smiled. “Well, I think it was fascinating.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Sokka said. He leaned in, his eyes sparkling with the same hunger they always got when he found himself on the edge of learning something new. “Learning about stuff is awesome. Did the revenue stream change much over the course of the war?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, actually,” Zuko said. “If I remember correctly, their revenue stream used to be seventy percent sales and profits of the rum business, but as the war continued, more and more of their profits started coming from the oak wood sales, mainly bought by the Fire Nation army to use as-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph sucked in a deep breath, and let out an earsplitting screech.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of them cringed away. Aang jumped so hard his hands slipped from Katara’s hair. Katara dumped </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jino Afuar </span>
  </em>
  <span>all over her lap. Suki cursed, and Sokka leapt out of Suki’s lap. Zuko bit down on the flames licking at the inside of his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dropping a hand over his heart, Sokka took three deep breaths. He turned to Toph, exclaiming, “What the </span>
  <em>
    <span>hell </span>
  </em>
  <span>was that for?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph turned towards Sokka and said, “Can you two do your little history lesson later? Preferably when I’m not around for you to bore to death?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki let out a string of mumbled curse words, her hands hovering shakily around her belt. “Toph,” she said, “We all love you. But next time, could you please just ask them that the first time instead of terrifying us all?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph stilled, and her face grew glazed in the way it always did when she was examining them with her earthbending.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it was the way Sokka’s hand kept going to rub his empty shoulder as if looking for a sheath that wasn’t there. Maybe it was the way Suki’s hands hovered over her belt without quite brushing the fans still sheathed there. Maybe it was the way the bottles were shifting and clinking as the liquid in them rustled, looking for something to fight. Maybe it was in the way Aang let one of his hands drift down to clutch Katara’s, or the way Zuko’s heartbeat fluttered in his chest like a dying hummingbirdsnake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But whatever it was, Toph’s face grew about as regretful as it could go. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was too easy for them to forget they weren’t at war anymore. It was too easy to reach for the weapons they used to need. It was too hard to forget why they used to need them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Toph muttered. “I’ll do that respectful thing you all are always on me about next time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara barked a laugh at this, and it only sounded a little forced.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their laughs were doing this, now. More and more, their laughs were becoming something unguarded, something open and free, as if the ceiling had finally fallen away and they suddenly had room for it. Zuko loved it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright!” Sokka said, taking a swig of the rum and clapping his hands together. “Who’s up for tipsy Pai Sho?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko volunteered. Katara groaned. “I’m not fixing you all if you sprain a finger like last time again,” she said warningly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki laughed. “Wait, what?” She leaned in, a huge grin spreading over her face. “Which one of you sprained a finger playing Pai Sho?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko crossed his arms defensively, glaring at Katara over the Pai Sho board. “The game got heated.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang frowned, but amusement glimmered behind his eyes. “How did you sprain your finger though?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko turned his nose up, ignoring the heat rising in his face. “It got a little hands-on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a board game!” Katara cried, throwing her hands up. “You’re not supposed to sprain anything! You’re not even supposed to touch each other!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang, Toph and Suki started roaring with laughter at the despair in Katara’s voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” Aang wheezed. “I guess with great recklessness comes great ability to injure yourself.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hypocrite!” Katara cried, smacking Aang’s hand. “Do I need to tell the three who weren’t present about the mail chutes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph shot up, giving Katara her full attention. “Mail chutes?” she exclaimed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell us, tell us, tell us!” Suki cried.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It wasn’t that bad,” Aang protested. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka chimed in with a deadpan to rival Mai’s and said, “We almost got stabbed with multiple spears and went flying off at least three roofs.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki’s eyes widened, and she let out an incredulous “What?!” at the same time Toph shrieked, “TELL US!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their group dissolved into yelling and pleading and shrieking and more than a few shoves. Above all of it, peals of laughter strung through the air, and they didn't sound forced at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko took a deep breath, and another, and he smiled. His chest lit up with fireworks, painting him colors from the inside out, and when he breathed out a tongue of multicolored flame brushed the back of his teeth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once upon a time, Zuko had dreamt of capturing the Avatar and coming home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had pictured a rare approving smile on his father’s face, and his sister waiting for him like he had never left. But beyond the homecoming, he had seen only life as it had been before. Competition, and distant love, and a kind of ever-present fear of failure and humiliation. That was the only way he had ever known. Mostly he hadn’t worried about that part though. He had imagined accomplishing his task of coming home, and bringing the Avatar with him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a cruelly beautiful way, he had done exactly what he always dreamed of. He found the Avatar, the war ended, and he went home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Went home to his uncle, to his friends, to his family earned not by blood but by love and sweat and tears. Went home into the arms of the only people who had ever really loved him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went back to Caldera City to become Fire Lord and end the war, and he brought his home with him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked out over Suki’s dimly lit room, and a home he never should have had. He watched Katara force a bottle of real water into a complaining Toph’s hands, scolding her about excessive drinking and the dangers of liver failure. He watched Aang carefully pull up strands of Katara’s hair, weaving them into what looked like the beginnings of a braided crown. He watched Suki and Sokka link arms at the elbows and down a huge gulp of their bottles, much to Katara’s dismay, and then break down in furious giggles, leaning on each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He watched the colors of four different nations twist and blur together, and not for the first time, Zuko wondered what it would be like to see like Toph. To have the fact that none of it looked out of place, that none of them looked any different be completely normal. Not a first at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko breathed, and the fire in him flickered and twisted and bloomed, lighting him up from the inside out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka leaned over, smacking his arm lightly. “Hey,” he said loudly. “Pull your head out of the clouds, moron. It’s your turn, and I’m winning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked down at the board, and fought a grin. Sokka had done exactly what he wanted him to do. He moved the Lotus Tile to a spot one diagonal space from the last piece Sokka had put down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka stared at the board for a second before knowledge dawned in his eyes, and he looked up at Zuko in horror. He leapt to his feet and yelled, “You played me!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko grinned at him. “Do you want to quit now, or keep going for the next six turns until I beat you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko groaned. Why, why did they think getting drunk before a day of meetings had been a good idea?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara had warned them. So had Aang. But no. Stupid past him just couldn’t listen to them even though he knew they were the only ones with braincells when alcohol was involved.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Today’s meetings had been hell. Actual hell. Ten hours of stuffy diplomats, and snotty delegates, and Katara and Aang being the only things keeping the situations from dissolving into actual fist fights. Zuko was pretty sure his patience had died with the last of his teapot in hour four.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To make matters worse, that morning Katara had refused to cure their hangovers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they had come staggering to her room one by one, clutching their heads and cursing mildly whenever the hallways were empty, Katara had opened the door, looked them up and down, and gestured them in with a roll of her eyes. “I have breakfast set out on the table,” she had said. “There’s food, and drinks, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>water</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and we can all eat together. But before you ask, no, I will not be curing your hangovers. You knew we had meetings today. You brought this upon yourself. Now you get to suffer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko supposed that was kind of fair, even if it sucked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With the exception of Aang and Katara (who were the only ones with enough common sense to not get wasted before day long meetings apparently), all of them had spent the day drinking tons of water, smiling through gritted teeth, and desperately counting the minutes until they didn’t have to </span>
  <em>
    <span>be in these meetings, gods dammit. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It wasn’t fun.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko tried to subtly look at the clock on the wall. Thirty minutes left. Thirty minutes until freedom. It was thirty minutes too long. Zuko resisted the urge to double over and bang his head on the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately, this meeting in particular was composed of his council as well as some Earth Kingdom delegates. Which tragically meant that the few people on his council comfortable with telling him and his friends fancy versions of ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>you look like shit; go to bed’</span>
  </em>
  <span>, could not. Which meant Zuko had thirty more minutes of hell before he was home free.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko finally tuned in to what the Earth Kingdom Head of International Affairs was saying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A stubborn man from the eastern Earth Kingdom named Emul, Kuei’s Head of International Affairs was fiercely nationalistic, and had been nothing but trouble so far for Zuko’s Head of International Affairs, Paonie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko began truly focusing when Paonie began to speak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Director Emul,” she said patiently. “I implore you to continue to think about the exchange program. If-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why should I?” Emul exclaimed loudly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie took in a deep breath through her nose. “I was just about to review my reasons, Director, if you would be so kind as to let me without interruption.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emul flushed and sunk back into his seat. Paonie’s words had given him no other choice but to save face. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Agni</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Zuko loved his Director. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As I was saying,” Paonie continued smoothly, as if she had never been interrupted. “If the exchange system were to be put into places, students would be allowed to learn about the other countries in a way untainted by their own country’s educational bias. They would be able to forge connections with others in a way that would promote more international cooperation, and help the next generation immediately be closer to peace than we ever had the chance to be.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emul opened his mouth, Zuko assumed to argue. But he never got the chance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie’s formal face fell into something more desperate, more intimate. More real. If you didn’t know her, you would never have known that it was almost as sculpted as her other. But there was suddenly something very human in the lines of her eyes, something flashing deep and fervent in the way her face fell into something like what you would see with a friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Emul,” she said quietly. “I have had time to talk with all of the representatives since negotiations began. You and I in particular have spent more time together than most. You have learned a lot about me, and I about you. Did you not enjoy that? Was it not a kind of strange thrill to find things you loved in someone you never should have known? Can you honestly tell me that you did not like </span>
  <em>
    <span>any </span>
  </em>
  <span>of the time we spent together?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emul froze, his mouth dropping open in a strange kind of gape. He looked like a fish above land, still searching for water. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-” he stuttered. “I did enjoy it,” he decided, recovering. “You are a fascinating woman, and one I am… honored to know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I feel the same way about you,” Paonie said quietly. “It has been a pleasure like no other to find acquaintances,” she paused, staring Emul down with something almost soft, “and friends, among people I never would have known if this war hadn’t ended the way it had.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She paused, looking over at Zuko and each of his friends in turn, and then back to Emul.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will be the first to admit,” she said, “that my country has committed sins that cannot ever truly be remedied or taken back. We came far too close to never having the opportunity to even try.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie leaned in further, dropping her hand flat on the table barely inches from Emul’s. Her voice dropped until it could almost have been a whisper, so that everyone else in the conference room had to lean in to hear her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We have a second chance here, Emul,” she said, her eyes budding with a kind of ferociously fragile light. “One that I never thought we would have. But here we are, and we </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a second chance. We can do things right this time. We can make sure that the war that tore apart both our worlds, the war that tore apart all of our worlds-” she raised her arms, gesturing at the conference room and out, out, out, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> happens again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyebrows drew together and she stared down at him. “But we have to start here. Now. Someday, I want children. And I don’t want them to have to grow up like we did, like all of us did, wondering when we would die with the next pointless fight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was it for, Emul? What was it all for? Can you tell me? Because I don’t know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie looked at him, drawing even closer, and Emul leaned in unconsciously, like she was a magnet drawing him in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Getting to know you, getting to know all of you, so different from me, has been one of the greatest joys of my life. That is what I want for my children. For yours. For everyone still here, and everyone not yet here. I want to give them a world where they can find joy in places that aren’t just their own. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s what we’re all here for right?” she said, standing up and looking around the conference room, her voice getting louder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We are all here because we want things to get better. We want the world to be better. For ourselves, and each other, and all of the generations that will come when we are here and when we are not. We want things to be better than this!” Her voice rose to a yell on the last note, and several people jumped, Zuko included.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie stopped. She closed her eyes and took three deep breaths before she turned and leaned back down towards Emul. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What I want,” she said slowly, her voice barely there, “Is for my children, and yours, and everyone in this world, to have a chance to do what all of us have done. To find something in people who are different from us. A chance for something better. We have that chance now, Emul. We can’t afford to waste it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want things to be better. And I think,” she said slowly, “that this will do that. It might not make everything perfect. But it would make it better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled down at Emul, and it looked like fracturing glass. It looked like hope. Paonie dropped her hand flat against the table just inches from his. “Just think about it. Please.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her hand withdrew, and she sat down at her own seat next to Shao-Xi. In her wake, Emul gaped after her, conflicted and hopeful and breaking with everything he thought he needed, and everything he wanted. The conference room sat in stunned silence for the span of five heartbeats. Then Emul seemed to regain some cognitive ability. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I- will think more over your proposition, Director Paonie,” he managed to get out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie gave a respectful nod, her face back in a formal expression. But when she spoke, her voice was still far softer than required. “And that is all I ask, Director Emul.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Spirits,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Zuko loved his Director.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The conference room continued to sit in silence for another few seconds. Then Shao-Xi cleared her throat and rose to her feet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” she said. “We’ve made great progress today, but I think we all have some things to ruminate over. Some of the most unfortunate of us have been at this since the second hour from dawn, and we are only about twenty minutes out from when we were scheduled to end the meeting, anyway. Why don’t we call it here, and begin again tomorrow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some of the diplomats and most of Zuko’s council nodded, murmurs of agreement sweeping over the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One of Kuei’s youngest advisors, a woman from a prominent industrial town in the Earth Kingdom named Yemana, who had an art for diffusing situations, slammed her head down on the table. Her teacup rattled, the liquid sloshing in the porcelain. “Oh, spirits yes,” she groaned, just loud enough for almost everyone to hear her. “Sleep, precious sleep, here I freaking come.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One of Zuko’s councillors broke down into a fit of coughing that sounded suspiciously like laughter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shao-Xi looked over at Kuei, who was seated at the other end of the table from Zuko. “Is that alright with you, King Kuei?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kuei, as always, seemed a little shocked to be directly addressed. He jumped about a foot in the air when Shao-Xi spoke to him. Zuko wasn’t sure he would ever get used to actually being in charge of governing things himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um,” he said. He glanced around quickly at his advisors, but his eyes lingered on Toph and her massive yawn. “Yes,” he said decisively, rising to his feet. “I think reconvening tomorrow would be a wonderful idea.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yemana didn’t even try to hide her cheer, pumping her fists in the air.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two seats down from Zuko, Sokka snorted into his water, spilling it all over his lap and letting out a string of curse words under his breath. Zuko bit his lip and swallowed down his snickers, resisting the urge to openly mock his friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He rose to his feet and nodded at Kuei. “Shall we reconvene tomorrow at the same time?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Noooooooo,” Yemana groaned, sliding back into her chair so far she seemed in danger of slipping completely under the table. “Second hour from dawn is way too early.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most of the advisors around the room made faces that seemed to agree with her, but only a few of them were bold enough to actually mutter agreement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko breathed a sigh of relief, and thanked whatever entity put someone with enough guts as Yemana in the room with them. Advisors willing to actually whine at their king were few and far between, but Agni knew they were making Zuko’s job easier. He personally was in no position to make complaints about starting times without appearing flaky or undevoted. But if all the diplomats wanted to start later, well then, who was he to refuse them?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” Zuko said decisively. “Should we begin again at the… fourth hour from dawn? Would that be a better time?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Fire Lord Zuko,” Paonie said. “I think we might start out on a better foot if all of us aren’t grumpy from lack of sleep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few of Kuei’s advisors snorted with amusement, but no one disagreed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko inhaled through his nose, and let it out slowly, savoring his next words. “We’re done for today,” he said. “Consider the propositions put out, and meet back in this conference room at the fourth hour after dawn tomorrow.” He paused for a second, and then before he could regret it, added, “Enjoy sleeping in. You earned it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Almost half of the Earth Kingdom advisors snapped their heads around to look at him, their eyes wide with shock. If Zuko hadn’t known better, he would have thought he had grown three heads and started spitting rainbows. Apparently, wishing people good rest was not something rulers just</span>
  <em>
    <span> did</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Spirits, why did Zuko have to be so </span>
  <em>
    <span>awkward</span>
  </em>
  <span>? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blood rushed up into his face and neck, and he sat back down as fast as he could, fixing his eyes on Katara.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara caught his gaze, and smiled. She gave him a tiny thumbs up. For what, Zuko wasn’t sure. But he didn’t think friendly gestures from his new family would ever stop making him feel like he had swallowed sparks,  lighting up from the inside out. So he smiled back at her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly, the various delegates and such began to collect their things and trail away in smaller groups. Zuko assumed most of them were heading to bed, but after today’s meetings, he wouldn’t be shocked if some of them would be going out in search of some wine, either.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He saw Paonie pulling her things together, and said, “Director Paonie? Would you mind staying after for a few minutes? I’d like to talk to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie looked over at him. A little confusion bordered on the edge of her expression, but for the most part she seemed unworried. She bowed in his direction. “Of course, Fire Lord Zuko.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka groaned, popping his back and picking himself up out of his chair to stroll over to Katara. He flopped in the chair next to her, kicking his feet up into another chair and dropping his head into his sister’s lap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For the record,” he said highly, “I am still mad at you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara snorted, her hands automatically falling down to rub her brother’s shoulders. “You all did that to yourselves,” she said dismissively. “Both Aang and I told you to stop drinking. Then, when you all basically said, </span>
  <em>
    <span>screw you, you aren’t our parents!</span>
  </em>
  <span>, we tried to get you to at least drink some water in between bottle swaps. But did you listen? No. This is on you, and now you get to suffer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But even as she spoke, she tipped Sokka’s head to the side, expertly rubbing his neck and shoulders. She ran her hand up his neck to just below his jaw, and started rubbing her thumb in circles over a spot towards the back of his neck. Sokka let out a sigh of relief, and practically melted all over her.</span>
</p>
<p><span>Katara snickered down at the puddle of goo that was her brother. Her gaze hovered over him, soft and loving.</span> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s gut flared at the sight of them, his insides twisting in agony. Sometimes, through the siblings, he saw a shattered version of what he and Azula could have been. What they could have had. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(At the same time, he knows that this is just wishful thinking. That he and Azula were too different, too split by expectations and realities and the love they would and would not receive from the moment they were born to the moment their paths irreversibly parted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What Katara and Sokka had was something Zuko and Azula never could have had. It had been forged in the fires of grief and loss and the decision to keep loving each other, over and over and over again. They loved each other, not because they had to, but because they had chosen to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara and Sokka would choose each other before anything else the world could offer. Zuko had chosen Azula once, in caverns full of crystals and lightning and Katara’s awful, guttural screaming as Aang fell from the sky. Azula never chose him. He did not choose her again.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He and Azula had not been brother and sister in anything but blood for a long time. It had taken knowing Katara and Sokka for Zuko to realize that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the time, that realization had hurt like nothing else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But in a strange way, it had also freed him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara and Sokka had taught him, albeit indirectly, that true family is not born, but chosen. Again and again and again. Maybe the family that you chose is your blood, but it doesn’t have to be, and just because your born family is blood does not mean you have to choose them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked at Sokka with his head in Katara’s lap, and Suki snickering at both of them from the doorway. He looked at Toph, with her feet kicked up in Zuko’s lap, making horrible jokes and grinning furiously when Aang laughed at them. (Aang laughed at all of them. Toph’s face was stretched into an almost permanent grin.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>True family is not born, but chosen. These children, cracked and bruised and bleeding and still loving, still choosing, taught him that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They could have left. They could have left, after the war had officially ended. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph had tried. There had been a very tense week for all of them when Katara had debated going back to the Southern Water Tribe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But they were all still here. Helping him rebuild, helping the world get better, making things better even at their own expense. They were all still here. Choosing him. Over and over and over again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whenever Zuko thought about that, whenever any of them did some tiny thing that seemed to scream </span>
  <em>
    <span>I am choosing you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he felt like he was lighting up from the inside out. They made his fire feel bright enough to make Agni’s light seem small. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe someday, their love would stop making him feel like he was full to bursting with fireworks and glowing embers. But he hoped it never would.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked away from his friends to see the conference room empty but for themselves and Paonie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The woman in question was standing by the edge of the table, leaning against the polished wood and watching him with an amused smile. Zuko thought she looked even a little fond. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” he said, a little defensively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie laughed, shaking her head. “Nothing,” she said. “You all are just cute.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey!” Sokka protested from where he still lay draped over Katara. “We aren’t cute! We are fearsome warriors!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara dug the knuckle of her index finger into a tense muscle at the place where his shoulder met his neck, rolling her wrist in a slow circle. Sokka’s eyes widened, and he practically moaned, somehow becoming even more lax in her lap. Katara snorted at the puddle of Sokka-mush in her lap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Ah, yes,” she said dryly. “You are truly fearsome, O’ Mighty Warrior. I tremble in my boots at the very sight of your terrifying visage.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang and Toph started laughing so hard they had to lean on each other to keep from toppling over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s face flashed briefly with something almost like insecurity. Katara’s eyes softened, and she slid her hand down, gently rubbing the back of his neck. Sokka relaxed. He huffed indignantly, but his eyes were fond. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine,” he said saltily. “Laugh it up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko snickered for a few seconds. Then his eyes widened, and he bit down a curse as he realized what he had forgotten. Again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned back to Paonie, who now looked highly amused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” he said hurriedly. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie laughed. “It was no trouble,” she assured him. “Besides,” she said with a sly grin. “I have been thoroughly repaid with the show.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko flushed. Toph cackled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So,” Paonie said, straightening. “What did you need to talk to me about?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One of the many, many things he loved about Paonie was that she was unafraid to talk to Zuko like he was just another human. Sure, she was still respectful, and in many situations still treated him like he was the authority. But she would joke around and poke fun with him, too. She made Zuko unafraid to act like he was, instead of how the nobles wanted him to be. Zuko was really, really glad Sokka had chosen Paonie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took a second to compose his thoughts, and then began by laying into his concerns. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” Zuko said. “Preliminary educational negotiation with the Water Tribes went very well between Arnook trusting Aang, and Katara and Sokka speaking for the Southern Water Tribe. But negotiations with the Earth Kingdom have been kind of… iffy so far.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You did a great job at the end making Emul listen to you, but,” Zuko took a deep breath, and then gave her a hesitant grimace. “Do you think he will agree to the incorporation of educational styles, and the foriegn exchange system?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie sighed, slumping into the nearest chair and rubbing her temples. “Honestly? I don’t know.” She bit her lip, tipping her head back and forth in the way she did when she was thinking. “He seemed to have some valid concerns with the incorporation of education. I think I can work with him on those with time though. What I’m worried about is him agreeing to the exchange.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grimaced. “I just can’t seem to convince him that it’s a good idea. He’s worried that the students will get attacked in the other countries, and… it seems possible. Maybe even probable. But we would be able to come up with ways to limit that if given time.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sighed. “Maybe I got through to him tonight, but… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how he feels after thinking it over.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” Suki said, appearing beside Paonie out of nowhere. “Can I just say, you were awesome? You played him like it was nothing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie looked up at her, and gave the younger woman a crooked smile. “I was being persuasive. But-” She turned, glancing over all of them. “I wasn’t really lying about any of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki raised a painted eyebrow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t,” Paonie said. “It really has been wonderful getting to know all of the people coming in, and…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked at all of them, and she seemed to see straight through them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve seen how you all are with each other. You couldn’t be more different, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a group of people more devoted to and loving with each other.” She smiled at them. “I want to give other people a chance to have the kind of family that you all have found in each other.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They sat in silence for a few seconds, digesting her words. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” Toph said abruptly. “You are totally right. We are </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>loving and considerate with each other.” Then she reached over, and slapped Sokka’s half-full glass of water off the table into his lap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka shrieked and leapt up from Katara’s lap, dripping. “What was that for?!” he yelled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph slammed her hands on the table. “Remember last night?” she yelled back at him. “Payback is a bitch! Just like </span>
  <em>
    <span>you!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko wracked his brain for the memories of the previous night. After the first thirty minutes, they were mostly obscured by the haze of the vodka he had too much of. But now, he could vaguely recall a moment involving a very drunk Sokka dumping a bottle of expensive alcohol all over Toph’s head. The rest of them had thought this was far too hilarious for Toph’s liking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re aiming for a war, Beifong, bring it on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph shot Sokka a koishark grin. “Oh, it will be brought. You will regret ever thinking of tangling with me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara sighed, rubbing her temples. “This isn’t going to go well,” she muttered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki nodded, bumping her shoulder. “Is it weird that I still want to see what happens?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara groaned. “Not really.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang shot Paonie a grin. “Do you still want people to be like us when we do stuff like</span>
  <em>
    <span> this</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie laughed. “Well, even when you’re dumping water in each other’s laps, you’re still better off than most, so, yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stood up and turned her grin to Zuko. “Was that all you needed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” Zuko said. “Go, be free. Sleep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie shot him a pointed look. “Only if you do too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko waved his hand at her. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll even get more than five hours.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Paonie rolled her eyes. She reached over, squeezing his shoulder a little. Then she bid them goodnight and walked out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked back over at Sokka and Toph. They were still arguing over who was going to win their ‘war’.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am going to crush you like a bug,” Toph hissed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are going to be buried so far under the ice, your deadness will make your ancestors jealous,” Sokka poked in return.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki sighed. “I’m calling this now,” she said tiredly. “You two are going to mess this up horribly and drag us all into this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara groaned, dropping her head into her arms folded on the table. “Oh, Spirits, no. Tui and La, see me through this unscathed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki patted her shoulder. “It’s not gonna happen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can dream,” Katara said miserably.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next day, when the meeting began, Toph 'accidentally’ sent a chair with a pie sitting in it flying under Sokka’s butt just before he sat down. The resulting stain was less than flattering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In return, at dinner all of Toph’s dishes mysteriously ended up tasting like </span>
  <em>
    <span>jeunik</span>
  </em>
  <span>, the Water Tribe spice Toph hated. When she tried to switch out plates, the new dishes also tasted like the seaweed spice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko didn’t know how Sokka pulled that one off, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t amused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On the second day, Toph managed to smear poop-colored paint on the butt of all of Sokka’s pants. In retaliation, Sokka filled her pillow with sea prunes. Where he got sea prunes in the Fire Nation, Zuko had no idea. But again, totally hilarious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The third day was… less hilarious. The third day was when Sokka made the biggest mistake of the past two-and-a-half months of his life. (Two-and-a-half because of the Great Cake Slide incident. None of them talk about the Great Cake Slide incident.) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The third day was when Sokka screwed up. And accidentally hit Katara instead of Toph.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had come into Aang’s room almost thirty minutes earlier than usual, balancing a huge bucket of sloshing green-brown liquid in his arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They were in Aang’s room that day for their pre-meeting time. Early in the process of officially undoing the damages of the war, their group had discovered the true torment that was day-long meetings. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They sucked. So, in an attempt to keep themselves sane, they had begun a ritual of meeting thirty minutes earlier than the meeting began in one of their rooms. There was a rotating schedule of whose rooms they met in. They would have breakfast together, and goof off, and generally give each other enough strength for the new day of meetings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Today, they were in Aang’s room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young monk’s room was fairly bare as far as the Fire Palace went. When Zuko had given it to him, Aang had smiled, and genuinely thanked Zuko. But Zuko had looked around the room, decked and draped in gold and red and the borderline garish colors of Ozai’s rule,  had remembered the Air Temples with their sweeping windows and endless light, and he had decided right then and there it wouldn’t do. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, the first free day they all had, Zuko had brought all of them together and into Aang’s room. They had spent the whole day decorating. It was a strange kind of decorating, in that Aang didn’t really need, or even want all that much stuff in his room. So they didn’t decorate with furniture, but with something else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph, Sokka, and Katara had taken entirely too much glee in tearing down the wide banners with Fire Nation sigils. Zuko had been secretly a little offended. But that was before they started draping themselves with the banners as if they were togas and having competitions over who could do the best smarmy imitation of the Fire Nation nobleman. (Katara won in a landslide. Zuko didn’t think he had laughed that hard in years.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And when the banners were torn down, and the walls laid bare, all of them had shot Aang huge grins, and led him to a closet full of paint.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They had spent the whole day painting Aang’s walls. Katara laid the background, using waterbending to swirl different paints together all over the walls. When she was done, the whole room had looked like a massive sunset. When the base layer was on, all of them had landed on the same wall, and started painting whatever they wanted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka and Zuko preferred to paint with a brush. Toph, Aang, and Katara preferred painting with their fingers. Suki chose her very own instrument.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki put paint on the edge of her fans, and did delicate swirls almost like calligraphy through most of the wall. It even dripped off and began creeping up the side of another wall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka painted various adventures of theirs (not very well), and a whole part of the wall with swirling vines and delicate ice lilies in a pale blue paint (they were stunning). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang did a painting of a pond dancing with reflections with one drop of paint from his fingertip at a time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph scooped up handfuls of paint in various colors and chucked them at her own part of a wall, cackling with glee. When she was satisfied with the paint on the wall, she walked up to it and dragged her hands through it in diagonal streaks, smearing the layers of paint in a strangely beautiful way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara closed her eyes and let her fingers guide her, ending up with an abstract painting with dozens of colors swirled together with the point of her finger. When Sokka asked her what it was, she said it was all of them. Zuko didn’t know exactly what she meant by that. But he looked at the painting, all swirling colors and smeared fingerprints, and he couldn’t describe how much he loved it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, yes. Aang’s room had barely any furniture. But it was smeared with all the colors of the rainbow, and it felt like </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Like they had opened their cracked ribcages and bled grief and hope and love all over the walls. Zuko kind of loved Aang’s room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What he didn’t love was Sokka perched above the doorway with a five-gallon bucket of unidentifiable sludge, waiting for his victim. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka,” he said tiredly. “Toph has to eat breakfast, and then we have a meeting. She will not have time to wash that off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka looked up from where he was perched on the thin frame above the door, cradling his bucket. His finger flew up to his mouth, and he gave a furious, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>shhhhhhhhh!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>that was louder than what Zuko had said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know that,” Sokka stage-whispered. “Why do you think I chose to do it now?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This feels excessive,” Aang chimed in from where he sat cross-legged on the floor, chomping on a fruit roll. “I mean, that is a lot of very gross…” His nose wrinkled. “I don’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> what, which probably speaks for itself.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nodded in agreement, scooping up his own fruit roll. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka huffed furiously. “You two just do not understand the world of pranks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re right,” Aang said. “I don’t get why you want to incite Toph’s rage by dumping a bucket of what looks like sewer water on her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Smells like it, too,” Zuko muttered under his breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A faint noise caught his attention. Zuko straightened, tipping his good ear towards the door. The distinct sound of Katara’s laughter drifted through the door, getting closer. Along with it came the murmur of Suki’s voice, and the faint cackles that could only be from Toph. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka gave Zuko and Aang a koishark grin. “Showtime,” he cackled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wow. Zuko hadn't known Sokka could even </span>
  <em>
    <span>make</span>
  </em>
  <span> a sound that malevolent. This little competition was kind of bringing out the worst in him. Or, if not the worst, it was at the very least bringing out the plotting maliciousness in him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko sighed, and Aang looked over at him, his grimace saying, </span>
  <em>
    <span>well this isn’t going to go well</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko snorted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As one, both of them deliberately went back to breakfast. If they clearly had nothing to do with this, maybe they would escape Toph’s rage.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had gone completely silent, hovering over the door. His maliciousness was almost thick enough to taste in the air.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The girls’ voices got closer. And closer. And closer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko realized he was holding his breath in anticipation. He listened wistfully to the vibrant laughter just beyond the door, trying to soak in the comfort of no malevolent earthbender vengeance before it began. Basking in the calm before the storm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>From just outside the door, Toph let out a raucous laugh. One pair of footsteps slipped through the doorway. And a cacophonous </span>
  <em>
    <span>crash-splash-sploosh </span>
  </em>
  <span>filled the room as the contents of Sokka’s bucket went smashing down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko turned around. And met eyes with a stunned Katara, completely covered in sewer sludge.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The room went deathly silent. For the span of about five human heartbeats, all three boys in the room and both girls outside the doorway stood frozen, staring at Katara and the green-brown filth dripping off her everything. Katara’s face didn’t change from it’s expression of disgusted shock for that span of time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then the shock morphed into indignation. Slowly, slowly, Katara’s head turned and lifted, her eyes locking on a petrified Sokka with the ruthless terror of a komodo-magpie honing in on its prey.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka crouched frozen over the doorway, the incriminating bucket clutched in his arms, still dripping. His eyes had blown as wide as saucers, and his face was frozen in an expression of pure horrified terror.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looked so furious, if Zuko had pitted her against an army of the best the Fire Nation had to offer, he was pretty sure he knew who would have won (and it wasn’t the army).</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka looked as if right about now, he would rather swallow an erupting volcano or crawl underneath the surface of nothingness than confront the demon he had made in the form of his enraged sister.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara stared at her brother for all of ten seconds. Then her face, dripping with rage and sewer filth, curled up into the most horrifying smile Zuko had ever seen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka,” she said. Her voice lilted sweet and cheerful as usual, but her demon smile promised slow, painful death. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am going to go to the meeting like this,” she said. “I am going to smile. I am going to nod. I am going to ignore the strange looks and the nose wrinkles I get when I walk in wearing most of a sewer. After the meeting, I will go to my room, and wash myself off, and get a change of clothes. And then,” she said, leaning in further. Her demon smile grew even wider, a crazed gleam entering her eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then, dear brother, Toph will be the least of your worries. Because I,” Katara said, “am going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>destroy</span>
  </em>
  <span> you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She climbed up onto the nearest chair, wiping her filthy hands on Sokka’s shirt. Then she climbed back down again, and slipped over to the breakfast bar. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko and Aang recoiled in terror as she slid past them. Katara caught Aang’s eye and snorted. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said dismissively. “Even though you should have stopped him from being so monumentally stupid, I’m not mad at you two. More disappointed really.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang frowned. “But everyone knows that’s worse.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara rolled her eyes. “My point is, even though I am disappointed, you two aren’t going to be getting destroyed for this. Just Sokka. You have nothing to worry about.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka, still frozen above the door, seemed to pale even more at this. At this rate, Sokka was going to end up even more pale than Zuko. He looked like Lady Death had made a mixup, and begun his transformation to ghost too early.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, he seemed to regain the ability to move, and leapt down from the door into the puddle of nasty on the floor. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>KataraI’msosorry,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he gasped, his words smearing together in his rush to get them out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara turned to look at him, her face expressionless. “It’s too late,” she said flatly. “You have sealed your fate. You went on the cracking ice. Now you have to swim in the waters below.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph stepped delicately past the puddle of sewer muck on the floor. She walked up to Sokka, and patted his shoulder. “I’m putting our war on pause,” she said. “You’re gonna have your hands full.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki followed Toph’s lead, sliding into the room by skirting the sides of the puddle. She walked up and pressed a kiss to the side of her boyfriend’s temple. “You’re going to die,” she said, rubbing his shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka was indeed dying. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For someone as kind and generally maternal as Katara was, spirits, was she good at prank wars.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka was trying his best to get her back after the third prank, because apparently enough was enough (and Katara had been pretty brutal). But, as it turns out, between her freakish ability to analyze other peoples’ behaviors and habits picked up over months of constantly preparing to be ambushed, once Katara knew she was in the war, there was just no surprising her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was kind of grinding Sokka’s face in the dirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone in their group had collectively decided that the prank war had begun a second phase with the Great Sewer Water Incident. Aang had been the one to name the first phase the Bedrock, because it laid the groundwork for the next phases. Suki had been the one to christen the second phase The Calving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had named it after the term for when glaciers split and dumped icebergs into a body of water. Suki said she named it this because Katara was the glacier, and now she was dumping huge sheets of ice all over Sokka. Their group agreed that it felt appropriate. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Bedrock ended on its third day, and then The Calving began. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first day of The Calving was stressful in that it was anticlimactic. Katara stayed true to her word, and did indeed go to the meetings in sewer sludge. Whenever anyone asked her about why she was dripping muck, she would smile at them generously, and then continue without acknowledging that they had ever even asked her anything. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After the third meeting when they broke for lunch, Katara went and washed herself off. She came back in clean clothes, smelling like Sokka’s soaps. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka would later tell them that all his soaps had mysteriously gone missing.</span>
</p>
<p><span> For the rest of the day, she kept Sokka suspended in a perpetually increasing state of terror. By acting like everything was completely normal. By the end of the day, Sokka was jumping in fear when anyone so much as twitched, convinced that the end was nigh.</span><span><br/></span> <span>Actually, for him it probably was nigh.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Day two of The Calving was when Katara’s revenge began.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka awoke to find every piece of clothing in his entire closet dyed an eye-scorching shade of neon orange. How Katara had managed to turn all of Sokka’s clothes orange overnight was a mystery. But she had done it, which meant Sokka came into the first meeting dressed like a walking phosphorescent orange.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Sokka came into Suki’s room that morning for breakfast, Zuko caught one glimpse of him from the corner of his good eye and sprayed apple juice out his nose. (On a completely unrelated note, having apple juice come out of your nose isn’t fun. It burns like chili peppers on steroids.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” Sokka muttered. “I look ridiculous, and I deserve this, no need to tell me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang was trying very hard to contain his giggles. Suki was not. She was doubled over, howling with laughter at her boyfriend’s expense.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you done now?” Sokka asked his sister. Sokka gave Katara a miserable kicked-puppy look that would have had Zuko crumbling like an overcooked pastry. Unfortunately for Sokka, Katara was made of something far stronger than Zuko, and she stared him down, uncowed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope,” she said simply. Then she shot him a sugary smile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka groaned, flopping over and faceplanting in Zuko’s lap. “I hate you,” he mumbled into Zuko’s lap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara reached over, dropping a kiss on his head. “I love you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s hands hovered awkwardly above Sokka for a second, before settling somewhere near his shoulder blades. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was still new. Even after almost three-quarters of a year with them, these casual displays of affection were still somewhat of a… a novelty, almost.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Suki had no such problems. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki had grown up practically attached by the hip to the other Kyoshi warriors. They had shared living spaces, cooking spaces, training areas. Every part of their lives were intimately intertwined, and the warriors were no strangers to affection.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara and Sokka had grown up in a village that had been at its maximum exactly forty-two people. Sokka had admitted once, in the shadows and security of the early morning hours when neither of them could sleep, too haunted by the ghosts of a war they had killed for, died for, that after the older men left to fight there were only twenty-four. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They had grown up knowing everyone in their whole tiny world by name, or nickname, or the kind of bond that needed not even be named. They had grown up tangled in each other, so much so that at times Zuko wasn’t sure they were really two people at all, but one bigger person. They were the two of the most tactile people he had ever met.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Aang… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang didn’t talk about the Southern Air Temple a lot. He also didn’t talk about the Western Air Temple a lot. Whenever he spoke about either of them, his face twisted in the strange grief-love-guilt mix that turned Zuko inside out with his mental litany of </span>
  <em>
    <span>your fault, your fault, your fault. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Zuko knows, deep down, that it isn’t his fault at all. He knows it in the same way he knows Aang feels the same way. He knows it in the same way he knows that neither of them will ever be able to fully convince themselves that it is true.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang didn’t talk about the Air Temples very often, but he did talk about them. And when he talked, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>talked</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Full tilt, full speed, vomiting up words like he was terrified if he didn’t say them all right then, they would never come out. Maybe they wouldn’t. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But when he did talk about them, he spoke about casual love, and love that wasn’t casual at all. He talked about devotion, and life. He talked about dancing, and music, and dramatic young monks throwing themselves on each other because they were bored. He talked about Gyatso in the same quiet, breaking way that Sokka and Katara spoke about Hakoda. And Zuko didn’t think Aang had ever gone a full day without some kind of physical affection in his whole life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Zuko didn’t like to think about how Aang and the Water Tribe siblings spoke about their father-figures in the same way. He didn’t like to think about how Sokka’s eyes got harder and more delicate at the same time when he spoke about Hakoda for too long. He didn’t like to think about how Katara spoke casually about doing everything around the house, or how she spoke not casually at all about how hard things were for their tribe after the men left. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She never spoke about hardship for her and Sokka, personally. Neither of them ever said anything deliberately bad about Hakoda to their group’s faces. But that was almost as damning. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko didn’t like to think about the fact that Sokka and Katara spoke about their father in the past tense, and in the same way Aang spoke about his long-dead mentor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko knew a thing or two about awful fathers. The difference was that Ozai had truly not cared about him at all. Zuko thought Hakoda did care about his children. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> he did, from the way Zuko had seen him watch them. Hadoka loved his children. And he had still left them behind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For that, Zuko hated him all the more. The thought of the way Katara sometimes watched them, watched all of them like she was waiting for them to leave, the way she had curled up into Zuko’s arms the night after Toph left and just </span>
  <em>
    <span>cried</span>
  </em>
  <span>… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It made the fire in Zuko’s gut rear and howl and roar. It made him want to burn things to ashes, tear cities down brick by brick until Hakoda understood, until he understood what he had </span>
  <em>
    <span>done</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And from the way he sometimes caught Suki watching Sokka with too-hard eyes and too-tight fists, and their eyes met, dripping with a bitter, burning rage, he knew he wasn’t the only one.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, yes. Everyone in their little group knew affection like they knew breathing. Except for Zuko and Toph.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the strange part was that he was pretty sure they had picked up on that. It didn’t dissuade them. If anything, their friends had seemed to grow even more determined to shower them with physical love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes, Zuko caught Toph doing the same thing he did. Hovering a second too long, waiting a moment beyond when it becomes a little awkward, because where do you put your hands? Where do you rest your chin? How do you slide into a hug that’s already all tangled up? What do you do when your friend just up and faceplants in your lap?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>These were questions they didn’t know how to answer, because this was new. They had never had this before, and what seemed to come like breathing for their friends came like breathing molasses instead of air for Toph and Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>These were questions that they didn’t have clear-cut answers for yet. But they were figuring it out. One faceplant at a time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s hands dropped to just below Sokka’s shoulder blades. He slowly dragged one of his hands in lazy circles in an echo of something he had seen Katara do a thousand and one times. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka, hideous orange clothing and all, unconsciously moved into his touch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fireworks went off in his chest, like they did when any of his friends melted into him like they loved to do. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko had tried to explain to Sokka once, how touch made him feel like he was lighting up from the inside out. Like he had been cold his whole life, and suddenly he knew warmth. He hadn’t been talking to Katara, but Katara had been laying over Sokka’s lap at the time. Zuko had thought she was asleep until she sat up, fixing him with her blue eyes too old for her years, concerned and far too knowing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka hadn’t known what to make of Zuko’s fireworks. But Katara had told him a word, carefully and hesitantly, as if she was afraid he would yell at her. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Touch-starved</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she had called him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a little too accurate for comfort. The comparison of his virtual need for physical touch, to hunger. To starvation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But if he was starving, then they were filling him up. He wasn’t sure if they would ever let him be empty again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They had breakfast. Sokka didn’t move from where he lay sprawled out in Zuko’s lap until they had to leave for their meeting, not even to eat. Katara and Toph stole food off each others’ plates, squabbling and slapping teasingly at each other. Suki and Aang sat with their legs tangled together, laughing furiously as Aang gave a theatrical reenactment of the last meeting Suki hadn’t attended, when Toph had completely steamrollered a lying delegate. Zuko watched his friends. He sunk into the fireworks exploding in his gut. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Sokka walked into the meeting, resplendent in eye-scorching orange, Zuko’s whole cabinet came to a screeching halt. Paonie took one look at Sokka, and then at Katara’s smug grin, and Zuko could practically see the dots connect in her mind. She doubled over, howling with laughter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shao-Xi bit down on her lower lip in a poor attempt to hide her grin, completely negated by the shaking of her shoulders from laughter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of Zuko’s cabinet, and all the visiting Earth Kingdom delegates, looked torn between complete confusion and hysterical breakdowns. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those of Zuko’s cabinet close enough to the children to have an understanding of Katara and Sokka’s relationship were whispering among one another, trying very hard not to openly laugh at Representative Sokka. Those who didn’t were watching their little group with open shock and potent confusion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey!” One of Zuko’s cabinet members called. Zuko looked at him and realized it was Wentivsh, the cabinet member with the least formal relationship with their little group. Wentivsh and Sokka in particular enjoyed being chaotic together, much to Katara and Wentivsh’s girlfriend’s dismay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka!” Wentivsh called again, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Dude, what did you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka sighed. “Remember yesterday?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wentivsh shot Katara a grin, and nodded. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” Sokka said, flushing. “I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>aiming </span>
  </em>
  <span>for Toph. I missed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wentivsh stared at Sokka for a second, before he broke down, laughing so hard he had to lean on another council member to keep from falling over. It was another two minutes before he regained control of himself. He straightened, and gave Katara a huge grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Katara!” he said, wiping away tears of mirth. “How much longer can I expect this kind of excellent amusement?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara pretended to think for a second, and then shrugged, assuming a face of faux innocence. “I don’t know,” she said lightly. “That will depend on how merciful I’m feeling.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wentivsh started cackling again at her response. Sokka moaned in despair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara gave Sokka a huge grin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That night, Sokka’s bed somehow ended up full of mud. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Day three of The Calving began fairly anticlimactically. There were no pranks at all until after lunch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But at lunch, Sokka’s meal turned out to be mysteriously full of a pepper that he absolutely hated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s it!” Sokka yelled, standing up and throwing away his fork. “You’ve gotten your revenge, and you’ve gone beyond. Feel free to keep going, but know I’m coming for you, now!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara stopped with her spoon halfway to her open mouth. She carefully set her spoon back in her bowl, and then leaned forward. Her eyes narrowed as she stared her brother down. Her mouth spread in a satisfied grin. “Bring it on, moron.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka snorted, his eyes narrowing in a near perfect mirror of his sister’s. “Oh, don’t worry,” he said. “I will.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was not bringing it. He had attempted all of three pranks in the next day, only one of them working. Meanwhile, Katara launched three pranks as well. All three of hers worked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As it turns out, Sokka was a military genius. But he really sucked at the common sense to make pranks less complicated, rather than more complicated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On the fourth day, The Calving ended the same way it began. With a prank misfire, and a mistaken target. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Poor Suki never saw the poop bomb coming. Katara did. She tried, she really did try to pull Suki out of the way in time. But it was such a big poop bomb. Katara managed to save Suki from the worst of it, but when the bomb hit the cobblestones, it exploded, spraying both of them with poop. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko had been behind the girls when it happened, just out of splash range. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki had stood completely frozen for exactly five seconds, before she reached up and wiped a smear of brown off her face. She had looked at the now white tinted poop on her fingers. Katara, Zuko, and Sokka just watched, equal amounts of horrified and terrified as they waited for the verdict.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suki stared at her fingers, and then looked up at Katara. “Alright,” she said, as cheerfully as if she were just discussing dinner plans. “Destroy him together?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And thus began the third phase. The Congregation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>During The Congregation, all six of them got roped in in one way or another. Katara and Suki’s prank misfired and hit Zuko. Zuko tried to get them back and hit both Toph and Aang. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It continued like this for the next two days. By the end of the second day, no one could remember who was supposed to be getting who back for what, and it had just devolved into them relentlessly messing with each other in relatively harmless ways.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang, whose tattoos had been tracing in multicolored ink while he was asleep, had been the one to declare that they had officially entered a new and final phase. The Amusement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This phase was purely for fun, and consisted of entirely harmless, tiny pranks, and games. He called it The Amusement, because their little battle had been the main entertainment in the palace for the last week and a half as they approached the huge, stressful meeting that would finalize many agreements between the nations. The staff were having the time of their lives. Zuko didn’t think anyone could remember the last time a Fire Lord had acted this dumb, but the staff clearly thought it was hilarious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Amusement kept going for the next two days up until the meeting. The main part of it was a very dedicated game of tag they played between meetings. Aang was terrifyingly good at tag, due in no small part to the fact that he could run up walls, which Zuko thought was </span>
  <em>
    <span>totally cheating, you tiny little menace!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was lots of cursing involved. Mostly from Toph. Especially from Toph. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was kind of the most fun Zuko had had in years.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the night before the big meeting, Zuko sat all of his friends down in a circle on his bedroom floor. “Alright,” he said seriously. “This is really super fun, and we should definitely keep doing it after tomorrow to keep ourselves sane.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, obviously,” Sokka said, grinning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Duh,” Toph muttered. “How else we will keep ourselves from murdering stupid nobleman?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara swatted Toph’s arm, but she was laughing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>But</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Zuko said pointedly. “Tomorrow is very, very important. We cannot do anything that might jeopardize the agreements we’re trying to settle. So, tomorrow, no one will be doing anything ridiculous. No tag, no loud bickering in breaks, no bringing in loud chips to snack on through the whole meeting,” he said, shooting Sokka a deliberate glare. “And most important of all, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no pranks</span>
  </em>
  <span>. We have to go into this as responsible world leaders, not little kids. So, just for tomorrow, no one is allowed to do their usual ridiculousness.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In retrospect, Zuko really should have known. He should have known his stupid friends were stupidly plotting something stupid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> All of them had straightened where they sat, and they had shot glances at each other from the corners of their eyes, and Toph and Aang had looked as if they were trying very hard not to laugh. As he looked back on the event, Zuko could  suddenly see with perfect clarity the dozens of red flags he had been too oblivious to notice at the time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” Katara had said, smiling at him. “We’ll all try our best to be the perfect pictures of grace and dignity.” She glanced over at Toph. “Some of us will try our best to be the perfect pictures of grace and dignity. Others of us will try to at least be polite.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph flipped her middle finger in Katara’s general direction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of them started laughing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph grinned like she always did when she had made them laugh; like she had made the flowers bloom and the sun rise and the winds rush through the fields. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of them laughed like they always did when it was for one of their friends; like the sun was rising and the flowers were blooming and the stars were throwing silver dust over the earth, and the only thing that mattered was that they were home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They had dinner together in Zuko’s room. Apparently Katara had commandeered a small part of the royal kitchen to make their dinner herself that night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was one of the dishes Katara had cooked often back when they were still running from everyone and everything. One of the strange fusion dishes tinted with flavors from all of the nations. One of the dishes that tasted like four homes he had never known, and one that he did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One by one, his friends trailed off to bed. Zuko groaned as he flopped into his own bed. He fell asleep dreading the meeting the next morning. But he knew he wouldn’t be doing it alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko stood in the doorway of his closet, swearing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took back everything good he had ever said about his friends. They were chaos gremlins, demon changelings, absolute little shits. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How did he know this, you may ask? Well. Zuko knew this because he was currently standing in his closet doorway, swearing, as he examined his closet that was suddenly full of clothes that were inexplicably, undeniably, Katara’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko was going to go into the most important meeting in the last three months, a meeting that would finalize many agreements over education, territorial disputes, colony arrangements, etc. And he was going to have to do it in one of his friend’s too-short dresses. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only thing of his whichever one of the little demons was responsible had left behind was his underwear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which meant he could not even rush into his friends’ rooms to find his own clothes. He, the Fire Lord, was just going to have to wear a Water Tribe dress to what was going to be one of the most important meetings of his life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was it. When he found out who was responsible for this, someone was going to die.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He chose the fanciest dress that had been left for him, because damn it all, if he was going to do this, he was going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dress was about four inches too short, and very obviously designed for someone with boobs. It was very feminine, and highly embroidered, with beads and fur and deep, rich blues. There would be absolutely no missing the fact that this was a Water Tribe outfit. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he had predicted, none of his friends were in their rooms. Zuko was going to kill them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The few staff members he crossed in the hallways did double takes when they saw him. They short-circuited for a few seconds, then regained their senses and bowed respectfully. As soon as they had respectfully acknowledged him, they sprinted away as fast as they could without being disrespectful, presumably to tell their friends. Zuko heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His bed was made. He might as well lie in it. He whirled on his heel and marched back towards the conference room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he walked in through the doors, the very few people in the room all turned to look at him. Among the twenty or so people already in the room were Suki and Sokka.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka locked eyes with him, and raised his arm to give an exaggerated, obnoxious wave. Suki bit her lip to keep from laughing. They were both wearing each other’s clothes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko tried, not entirely successfully, to keep his shoulders from slumping in sheer relief, because even if his friends were goblins, at least they weren’t heartless enough to abandon him in his misery.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Barely three seconds later, the massive doors to the room were thrown open with a deafening bang. Toph strolled in casually behind him, bedecked entirely in Aang’s clothes. She was even holding his staff. Oh spirits. What were Aang and Katara going to walk in wearing?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Toph punched his arm on her way past. “Well, hollo, Sparky,” she said with a barely controlled glee. “Dashing as always, I assume. Keep rockin’ the dress.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then she rushed past him before he could go off on her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He spent the next thirty minutes as various delegates and diplomats trickled in a state of complete anxiety.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang and Katara came in. Hakoda bemoaned the fact that his children were chaos gremlins. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” Katara said, a shit-eating grin on her face. “But we’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>your </span>
  </em>
  <span>chaos gremlins.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara grinned at Zuko, and Aang buried his face in his girlfriend’s shoulder to hide his furious giggles. Suki met his eye from across the room and smirked. Sokka and Toph invaded each other’s personal space, being overly loud and openly laughing at Hakoda’s dismay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko thought about years he had spent in this palace. Years surrounded by his family that wasn’t his family. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He thought about months he had spent on the run, months he had spent in this palace. Months surrounded by people that never should have been his. But by some miracle, they </span>
  <em>
    <span>were</span>
  </em>
  <span> his. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He thought of months rolling down grassy hills, and dancing under the stars, and singing off key to festivals observed from shadows. He thought of months racing through the halls of his home that was never really his home, playing tag between meetings, and eating breakfasts in rooms painted like rainbows, and laughing while lying on roofs that should not be accessible, staring at the stars and making up constellations that didn't exist. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara’s words echoed in his mind. </span>
  <em>
    <span>But we’re yours.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fireworks, and glowing embers, and a chest full to bursting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Yes, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Zuko thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes, you are.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His friends were, irreversible, undeniably, chaos gremlins. But somehow, somehow, they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>chaos gremlins. And Zuko wouldn’t have them any other way.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Language Key!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's a language key. I know you're shocked.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Language Key</span>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Air Nomads</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuoe- (you-OH-ey) moon</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Relame- (reh-la-mey) (</span>
  <em>
    <span>me </span>
  </em>
  <span>pronounced like in mesa) to mourn</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sai- (sigh)(said quickly, like saying </span>
  <em>
    <span>lie</span>
  </em>
  <span>) with</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Relame sai Yuoe- to mourn with the moon; it is a tradition of the Air Nomads that if you have suffered a great loss, you should try to let yourself begin mourning when the moon rises and cease when the sun rises, as a way of reminding yourself that even though you need to mourn, you should not stop living, that the person/people you are mourning would want you to find peace and happiness, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Erave- (eh-RAH-vey) spirit, add -</span>
  <em>
    <span>v </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the end to make plural, spirits (</span>
  <em>
    <span>Eravev). </span>
  </em>
  <span>The word refers to either a spirit(s) that can be named, or one that cannot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Uole- (oo-OH-lay) song, or expression of feelings</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eravev-Uole- prayers for the spirits; the Air Nomads give thanks and gratitude for nature, and the world that they live in, either with traditional chants or with personal ones of their own making. They can be given at any time, in any way that is not disrespectful to the spirits, but are usually given at least once a month. The chants are believed to give the spirits recognition, and that by acknowledging them, the people will be more listened to by the spirits. The other nations used to have similar practices, but they faded away over time. This has left the Air Nomads with a closer relationship to the spirits of nature than other cultures, as they acknowledge both spirits that can be named, and spirits that cannot be named, by using the collective term </span>
  <em>
    <span>Eravev, </span>
  </em>
  <span>instead of only acknowledging the major spirits with well known names (ex. Tui and La, Agni, ect.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Quere- to share</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Vidale- life</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cuolefar Heobe- (COO-oh-LAY-far A-oh-BAY)creeping lilies, a type of flower that grows by the Southern Air Temple; they cling to rocks, and bloom in the spring, and over the course of the spring, they shift from their beginning pinks to purples. Also called </span>
  <em>
    <span>Anefar Jurente </span>
  </em>
  <span>by the children of the temple</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anefar Jurente-(Anay-FAR who-REN-tay) sundrop flowers; another name for </span>
  <em>
    <span>Cuolefar Heobe</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Quere Vidale- (COO-eh-re vee-DAH-lay)an old tradition in which one observes another culture through someone who actively practices in a place where it is actively practiced </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Veshereh- (veh-sher-eh)soul sibling, a very powerful way of saying, ‘you are my family’. It places emphasis on emotional bonds, and a very deep feeling of love and care. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anefar Oanii- (Anay-FAR oh-AH-ni) sun oasis, a string of connected ledges high on the cliff above the Western Air Temple with small pools and gardens that are traditionally tended to by the children of the temple</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Water Tribes</span>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Southern</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Te Kavéle- (Teh Kah-VEH-leh) literally means, </span>
  <em>
    <span>you rot, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but it is also a curse word used to speak ill of someone else, meaning that they are lower than rot, or, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I hope that you rot</span>
  </em>
  <span>. To add -</span>
  <em>
    <span>ne </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the end is to say the curse directly to the person you are speaking with (</span>
  <em>
    <span>Te Kavélene).</span>
  </em>
  <span> It is a term of utmost disrespect, and is not ever used in a joking manner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fecin- (feh-siin, siin sharp and short) a piece of poop, or something that no one wants to be around, even just for long enough to deal with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaimek- (SHY-meck) brother, either emotional or biological; to add -</span>
  <em>
    <span>e </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the end is to place emphasis on</span>
  <em>
    <span> little </span>
  </em>
  <span>brother (Shaimeke), and to add -</span>
  <em>
    <span>a </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the end is to put emphasis on </span>
  <em>
    <span>big </span>
  </em>
  <span>brother (Shaimeka) (can be used as a technical term or a term of endearment)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaimel-(SHY-mel) sister, either emotional or biological; to add -</span>
  <em>
    <span>e </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the end is to place emphasis on</span>
  <em>
    <span> little </span>
  </em>
  <span>sister (Shaimele), and to add -</span>
  <em>
    <span>a </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the end is to put emphasis on </span>
  <em>
    <span>big </span>
  </em>
  <span>sister (Shaimela) (can be used as a technical term or a term of endearment)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Teiekiou- (tey-EE-KEY-oo) empty head, an insult used to say basically, your brain is not there, or your brain </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>there, but you choose not to use it</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hue Weamen Tewakel- the warm night, the part of the polar winter when the sun does not rise above the horizon, and everyone stays inside and reconnects with their family</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeunik- (Zhay-oo-nick) a type of seasoning made from seaweed that is dried and then ground into a fine powder, used in many different types of Water Tribe cuisine. There are three different kinds of seaweed used for different types of jeunik, and each is only able to be harvested for about three weeks per year.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Qanikejes- (KA-knee-KEH-zhes) pests; a word to insult people you consider friends or family without risking insult, because used as an insult, it is considered tame, with an understanding of the fact that the person using it cares about you</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Retamue Untii- (reh-tah-MOO-EY oon-TEA) literally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>goodbye until, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Retamue Untii is a song sung traditionally by soldiers, usually family, who are separating for a battle that they may not return from. Its lyrics express sadness at having to part, but the hope that it will not be permanent. In the case of death however, the song implies that they will see each other again after their time on earth is done. The use of Retamue Untii, instead of Retamue Hewinaa, means that the singers believe, or at the very least hope, that they will see each other again before death, or will survive the battle and be reunited. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Retamue Hewinaa- (reh-tah-MOO-EY hue-ee-NAH) Literally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>final goodbye, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Retamue Hewinaa is traditionally sung when the singers know it is the last time they will see each other on earth. It can be sung on deathbeds, in parting, or when soldiers separate for a battle from which they know they will not return. The song expresses love, and good wishes, and implies hope that they will be reunited when Death comes for them, and they leave the earth for the last time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeune- (yay-oo-nay) elder, or </span>
  <em>
    <span>person who has seen more than me, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Yuene is a weighty term of respect with heavy cultural significance</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Waivema Quinave- (WHY-vem-ah KEY-nah-VEY) literally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>highest waterbender, </span>
  </em>
  <span>this term is used universally by both tribes. It is an esteemed position in which one is recognized as the best waterbender in the world. The title is gained by either formally challenging the previous Waivema Quinave to a duel, and winning, or if the previous holder of the title dies or formally renounces the title and names someone his or her successor. Holding the title grants the holder significant power in both tribes, as they are usually well respected, and their opinions hold significant weight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Northern</span>
  </span>
</p><p>???<br/><br/></p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Earth Kingdom</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yetan Gegar- a type of food, consisting of cooked meats and/or vegetables in wraps of thin crust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reca we, gengai- (Ray-ka WAY gen-GUY) for you, again; an expression used to say, ‘this was worth it, for you’, or ‘this was no problem’, or, literally, ‘I would do this again for you’ but is associated with feelings of fondness or care</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ue gethahew ne kow jinawel undue peones, neu kow jinawel yen ues amoren tekahanes. - I fight not for the blood on my hands, but for the blood in the veins of my loved hearts</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kentare- (ken-TAH-rey) little, used as either a descriptor or a term of endearment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Fire Nation </span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Enhaou kai- (en-HOW-OO kai) teacher, or, person more intelligent than me whom I hold in high respect; it is one of the few gender neutral honorifics in the Fire Nation language</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mhakenyik- (Ma-ken-YEEK) literally means </span>
  <em>
    <span>not yet big</span>
  </em>
  <span>, a term of endearment used to imply smallness, but also great potential</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blodfrewj-(Bluth-FREW-zh) blood-traitor, betrayer</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juan Hyemina- (joo-AHN hyeh-ME-nuh) literally </span>
  <em>
    <span>air sugar</span>
  </em>
  <span>, a Fire Nation town on one of the smaller islands in the archipelago</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hau Lingja- (hwah LING- zhuh) literallly </span>
  <em>
    <span>red river, </span>
  </em>
  <span>a town in the Fire Nation named for the massive rust-colored river it sits near</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Openaiv- (oh-PEN-NAIV) another Fire Nation town on one of the larger islands, renowned for its impressive sea trade and extensive underground bending leagues</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wenshaou te- (WHEN-shao-oo tey) woman of great courage and strength; this honorific is generally used for figures of high authority or power, and usually denotes that the speaker wishes to imply that the person they are speaking to or about is greater than they are</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jino Afuar- (ZHEE-no AF-WUAR, </span>
  <em>
    <span>waur </span>
  </em>
  <span>said like </span>
  <em>
    <span>tar</span>
  </em>
  <span>) a type of expensive rum known for its use of fruits from multiple nations</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ponivar- (poh-KNEE-var) An island in the east part of the Fire Nation known for its impressive rums. It also ships out oak wood, sugarcane, and molasses, and before the war was one of the wealthiest towns in the world. Even during and after the war, it maintained incredible wealth, lots of the revenue stream switching to selling oak wood as fuel for the Fire Nation army machines and firewood for the camps.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey! You made it! <br/>This was my first attempt at writing true fluff, and I felt a little (a lot) nervous about it. How did I do?</p>
<p>I love these characters, and I really liked exploring how they would start to realize they were safe; that the war was over, that they could be stupid kids. </p>
<p>I may come back at some point and write about them painting Aang's room, because I feel like that has a lot of fic potential. When half of your group is rich and the other half is like, objectively broke, betting with money means nothing, so I loved the idea of bad dinners as a way to do betting, because I felt like that was exactly the kind of thing teenagers would do if they had magical healers on hand. I will probably revisit it at least in passing at some point. </p>
<p>Did Toph actually steal all of the liquor from noblemen who pissed her off? Absolutely. Was the clothes swap entirely Katara's idea? Obviously. Does Shao-Xi keep coming back because I love her too much? Yes. Did I write Paonie as a throwaway character and then get ridiculously attached to her? Duh. There was just no other option. <br/>Was this work hilarious, or a piece of total garbage? You decide!</p>
<p>Grammar Police, welcome, one and all. I appreciate any feedback you guys can give me, even if it isn't about grammar. I write to make myself and you all happy, so any suggestions you all can give me I will try to work on. </p>
<p>This fic was so much fun to write, and despite my hesitations, I am posting it so that maybe someone else can get as much enjoyment from it as I did. I loved writing this, and I hope you loved it as much as I do! Stay safe, smile at things that you love, and go forth (hopefully) feeling a little bit happier! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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